Augmenting the Biological Brain - BCIs

The human brain has evolved from the smallest organisms over hundreds of millions of years, to the "thinking" brain found in today's primates and other self-sufficient creatures we consider intelligent. In discussions here, we have also looked at Artificial Intelligence, as a complement to Natural (biological) Intelligence. AI today is limited, and used only in very narrow ways -- however the field is expanding rapidly, mastering new and multiple human-like capabilities.

In this discussion, we will talk about the merging of Natural Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence, and Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs). BCI technologies are an emerging area that have begun to show promise, with the first human clinical trials already having been completed.

We will first look at the basics of BCIs, then their benefits and promises, as well as potential pitfalls and risks to individuals and society.

We also will discuss as a group some of aspects of BCI technologies:
• Prosthetics (Motor, Sensory, Cognitive replacement/augmentation)
• Disease Alleviation & elimination
• Disease Prediction & prevention
• Super-human capabilities
• New social networks/communication - true telepathy
• Machinery control (control of vehicles, aircraft, machinery)
• Ethics (consent, AI, unethical uses)
• Digital Divide: Barriers to Access may create social stratification
• Personal Data & Privacy - "Brain Fingerprinting"
• Manipulation & Control of people (marketing, police-use, etc.)
• Military/warfare

RESOURCES:

ARTICLE: Synchron completes first U.S. human implant of Brain-Computer Interface

ARTICLE: The Man Who Controls Computers With His Mind (click the link for free access - no paywall)

VIDEO: Max Tegmark - Transhuman Brains? [9 minutes]

VIDEO: A Brain Implant That Turns Your Thoughts Into Text [13 min]

VIDEO: The Science Behind Elon Musk’s Neuralink Brain Chip [8 min]

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Welcome to the series "Comprehensivist Wednesdays". Transdisciplinarity, Renaissance humanism, homo universalis, and Polymathy are some of the ways of describing this approach which Buckminster Fuller called Comprehensivity and described as “macro-comprehensive and micro-incisive”.

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